Aaaahhhh! Africa!

Things finally got into place for us and we caught up to our original schedule and only missed a day of adventure.  Here's some of what we've seen...

Our first stop was Tarangire (pronounced:  tare-n-gear-eh ) which is a National Park -- a huge one that is home to so many animals.  You wouldn't know it was a park because it's so huge and it really is the natural habitat for these animals.

It's Pumba!!!!

Our guide for our entire trip is Nixon.  He is amazing and so knowledgable.  So we get lessons on Africa, the tribes, languages, customs...the animals and tidbits like how elephants are pregnant for almost 2 years (22 months) and how they must eat for 16 hours in a day and drink up to 150 litres of water per day!  It was a great day because the 'cats' are typically hard to spot--but not today!  We found this lioness taking an afternoon siesta under a tree and we also got to see the cheetas!!!!  

And some strange scenes while driving to the park.  This is a huge pile of foam in a wagon...I guess it's for making couches and chairs and this is how they get it to the place it needs to be!

The kids in these areas know that tourism is huge so they take advantage.  These guys left this tortoise in the middle of the road so we would stop...we were so excited to see this turtle just sitting there on the road and then all of a sudden, these boys ran up to the road, scooped up the turtle and brought it over.  We paid them a couple bucks for this picture.  Made their day!

This cute little thing is called a DikDik.  It's so tiny!  Like a miniature deer~

At the Tarangire Lodge, this was our accommodation.  

The view from the porch of our tent.

Looking down the walkway...more tents.

After dinner, we needed to wait for a guard to walk us to our tent because the lodge is smack-dab in the middle of the park and there are no fences around it...yup...that means, at any time, wild animals could surprise us with a visit!

So amazed at the beauty of this country.  AND the people are amazing.

Be back soon!  Up next - Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti!